In 1900 Planck devised a theory of blackbody radiation which gave good agreement for all wavelengths. In this theory the molecules of a body cannot have arbitrary energies but instead are quantized - the energies can only have discrete values. The magnitude of these energies is given by the formula
E = nhf, where n = 0,1,2,... is an integer, f is the frequency of vibration of the molecule, and h is a constant, now called Planck's constant:
h = 6.63 x 10- 34 J . Furthermore, he postulated that when a molecule went from a higher energy state to a lower one it emitted a quanta (packet) of radiation, or photon, which carried away the excess energy.
With this photon picture, Planck was able to successfully explain the blackbody radiation curves, both at long and at short wavelengths. However, it was a radical departure from the conventional picture of light emitted from a blackbody, and at the time many people felt it was simply a calculational trick invented to obtain the right answer.
Well Larry I'm impressed, I also agree. Max Planck's discovery was the most profound discovery in all of physics. Here we are 100 years later and still have no rational explanation.
At least it's comforting to know that profoundly intelligent minds are clicking on my silly thread.
Blows the intelligent women, Lydia and Massmom, kisses
SirenLydiaBury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England UK4,138 posts
Human perception of pitch involves a keen sensitivity to the ratio of the fundamental frequency of any two pitches. The most obvious example of this is our ability to perceive octave relationships between pitches. Subjectively we perceive two pitches in an octave relationship as being the same pitch only displaced from each other. Two pitches in an octave relationship to each other have a frequency ratio of 2:1, that is the frequency of the higher pitch is twice that of the lower. This rational perception of frequency relationships makes our ears particularly sensitive to the structure of the harmonic series.
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Ha ha!
Made you click !
Make you click !
I'm really just an idiot !
~~~